Back to stay...for now...

It's been over a year of trying to just write happy thoughts on another blog. I now realize I need this outlet for the vitriol, so I'm back. If you choose to dig into the older posts...and I certainly encourage you to do so...be warned, they are not for the easily offended.

"I just can't follow all of this, have a life, work, and raise a family too! My heads going to explode!" - comment made by a friend on Facebook during a discussion on the Health Care Reform bill.

And that, in a nutshell, is the real problem. Most people on both sides of the political spectrum are in the same situation as my friend described above...too busy with life, work, family...and rightfully so... to have the time to really dig-in and figure out for themselves what's being done in our names in D.C. (not to even mention the 50 state capitals where all kinds of nefarious shit takes place under the radar). So they take what the talking heads give them as gospel.

If you're on the Left and the only "news" you are watching is Keith Olbermann than you are, sadly, very under-informed. Keith rarely presents more than one side of an argument and will never, ever, have a guest on his show who disagrees with his basic script...all Republicans are evil. (Simply not true...most of them are, but surely not all...are they?) If time is short and you can only watch one show, wait an hour and tune in to Rachel Maddow. It's a much more balanced presentation and Rachel is not afraid to engage in actual debate.

And if you are on the Right and you've crazy-glued your remote so that the Fox News logo is permanently emblazoned on your TV screen, you doing yourself a huge disservice. "Fair and Balanced" is what they wipe their asses with in the men's room. Shepard Smith is the only guy there who gives even a semblance of even-handedness to his reporting, and when he does he usually catches holy hell for from the viewership...they don't want no tonic water in their orange juice.

Which brings me to the real subject of this post...the attacks that have taken place against Democratic politicians and their families in the last week or so. It's far too easy to blame the violence on the fact that people are angry over passage of the HCR bill. Yes, people on the right are definitely angry. But there's a reason for that...Fox has told them to be angry. Fox has demanded that they be angry. Fox is the reason there is so much anger on the Right.

The talking douche bags of Fox, not to mention right-wing politicians from John "Need more spray tan"Boehner to Eric "Born to be somebody's bitch" Cantor to Mitch "less chin, more bullshit" McConnell to John "Damn kids get off my lawn" McCain to Michelle " goddamn even I think I'm batshit crazy" Bachman, and most of the rest, have spent the last 8 months telling their base that Obama was creating "death panels" (he is not) and that the bill would create a huge deficit (it does not) and that all negotiations were being done in secret behind closed doors (they were not) and that it was not bi-partisan (true, but only because the Right CHOSE to not participate) and every other lie they could think up about this bill for the sole reason that they did not want to give Obama a "win" of any sort.

Well the Right-wing's strategy did not work and they lost big. And now their chickens have come home to roost in the form of violence. And the violence that is happening now is reprehensible... the death threats, the spitting on congressmen (not to mention the name-calling that harkened back to 1960's), the gas lines being cut at the house of a brother of a Dem congressman, the windows being broken at Democratic congressional offices, the children of Democratic politicians being threatened...all of it... sits squarely on shoulders of O'Reilly, Beck, Hannity, Boehner, Cantor, McConnell, McCain, Bachman...and I haven't even gotten to the drug-addicted blow-hard that is Limbaugh yet. Each and all of them are responsible for what is happening. Not one of them has the sack to own it.

But mostly it is Fox. David Frum, former speech-writer for George W. Bush said this week: "Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us and now we're discovering we work for Fox." A few days after speaking the truth Mr. Frum was ousted from his position at the Right-wing American Enterprise Institute. Fox, the puppet-master, pulling more strings.

The Republican Senators and Congressmen are beyond pathetic in this. They have done it all for what they think is political gain...they believe they are going to clean up in November. Well here's my prediction. The Dems will gain seats in the house and either gain or retain the same number of seats in the Senate come November. The Republicans have shown their true colors here - yellow - and it will be to their detriment.